"Bike ownership is dying": CEO of bike subscription service Buzzbike on the future of urban cycling

Where I am (Brussels, Belgium), we see a lot of these 'share' or 'subscription' services, be it for cars, electric steps or (e)-bikes.  According to the latest figures NONE of them, except one car-sharing company (who happened to be the first, back in 2002) are making a profit.  Zero.

Swapfiets is here, too and I'm very curious if they'll still be around in a couple of years.  Half of their electric bikes are ridden by food couriers, contrary to their conditions of use.  They don't offer any non-electric bikes that would serve for a commute that's longer than a couple of km.  

Any really regular commuter or rider has specific preferences as to their bikes.  I don"t see subscription services catering to those.

I see a few of these a daily now in central London. I presume the owners have to operate in the same way as me where you can never leave your bike locked up outside unattended for more than a short time, or someone will steal in under a minute once clocked- Whatever the lock. 
Santander and The lime/Uber bikes allow you to offload them either on stands or on opportune busy pavements. That's the big benefit of the hire bikes Imho. Outside of punctures most road maintenance is infrequent unless banging out the miles on standard bikes. 

"getting more non-cyclists on bikes" eh? Well that sounds as logical as getting more non-drivers in cars.

Obvious propaganda for profit should not be promoted as the headline.

Yup, bike ownership is over with, that's why bike shops all ran out of bikes during the Covid, it's why used bikes are difficult to find and when you do find one it's over priced because there is not too many around.

So now they want to you to pay the equivelant of $497.52 USD per year to have a subscrition to get a bike, basically all your doing is leasing a bike!  Geez, after 3 years of this lease program you could have bought a pretty nice bike with the money spent on this Buzzkill.

Gold standard lock doesn't mean much in todays world of battery powered angle grinders that can cut through a Gold standard lock in less than 30 seconds.

On demand repairs doesn't mean much either, I have a bike with over 150,000 miles on that is 36 years old and it, nor my other newer bikes, have ever broken down on the road, so what's the odds they're going to fix you bike?  almost zero.

You can join group rides at any local bike shop, most towns and cities have at least one shop that offers free group rides.

Discounts? what they give you is 10% off at a bike shop that is typically at least 40% more money for the same thing you could have gotten on the internet which includes shiping and taxes.

I just can't see wasting that kind of money for so little in return.

It's not yet worked for cars, and I'd really like it to work for cars. On a basic economic level, for a large part of the population the overhead for maintaining a car (including just putting it somewhere legal) hurts. Not to mention the regulatory risk of buying ICE and range risk for buying EV.

Bikes? Save a couple of PCP payments, walk into shop, done. There could/should be more designing in lower maintenance bikes (and more theft-proof - I'd expect an ebike to have an integrated lock), and I'd like flats to be built with bike storage more in mind, but it's never *that* hard to own one.

I don't know much more about Buzzbike than is explained above, but it sounds to me like you would still need to have somewhere to store the bike at home, somewhere to store the bike at the destination, and you would still be stuck if you need a repair until they can send someone out to fix it. It's also not very helpful for multi-modal transport - i.e. it would still be a nightmare trying to take it on the train, let alone a bus.

I think things like the Boris bikes are good - you can hop in a train, pick one up at the station, cycle around the city, and at the end of the journey dock it back and forget about it.

If this was even remotely true you'd expect the Netherlands to rely on the excellent OV-fiets scheme rather than purchase bicycles. But they don't. And comparing with car subscriptions, please. Cars cost many thousands to purchase, a bicycle just hundreds. Most will buy a bike for less than the cost of a cellphone and it'll last them far longer.

Honestly, if you've got to try this hard to sell the idea, the idea sucks.

A strange claim to make at a time when bike manufatcurers can't keep up with demand.

There is a massive increase in cycling and both bikes sales and bike hire schemes are feeling the benefit.

Bike hire schemes are great for people who want to trave short distances within one urban area, where people can rely on bikes to be available where they want them when they want them. The free utility cyclists from providing space, maintenance or insurance for their bikes.

But they will never kill off bike ownership, as they don't meet the needs of people who want more than a means to get to work, quickly and cheaply.

Probably an overstatement, as the hire schemes need a density of punters to hire their bikes, and these areas are also likely to be where folk haven't the space or facilities to safely and securely keep their own.

If we want people to move away from cars a viable, cheap and convenient alternative (or range of alternatives) needs to be made abundantly available.

"My lemonade stand sold ten glasses the week before last, and 55 in last week's heatwave - that's a 450% increase! This is proof that Coke is doomed."

"Bike ownership is dying" lies the CEO of business that wants you to subscribe to their bikes.

"Headline Is Not True": Reader of Article who Compared it to What Article Said.

I think this is a segment of the bike industry that is likely to grow strongly.

In the 'Before Times' I used to spend a reasonable amount of time in Amsterdam, swap fiets bikes were everywhere.

For many people even fixing a puncture can seem daunting, a model that allows you to run a bike without having to worry about any maintenance at all is clearly appealing to many.

I beg to differ... I dont think bike ownership is dying or will it die in the near future.

Bike hire is currently booming because of Cov19, lockdown and difficulties by retailers to meet demand due to supply issues either because of Cov19 or issues caused by Brexit -- if not both.

There are also conveniences of having a rental bike such as not really caring how you treat it or its maintenance costs because it doesnt belong to you -- Though there may be long term rental schemes that require you to leave a security deposit should you do something like vandalize or abuse their bike beyond what is just regular wear and tear.

The second hand bike market will continue to exist and people will still go there looking for a better deal than what is offered at retailers. Not every bicycle sold has to be brand spanking new albeit there are a lot of retailers like Decathlon that give exceptional bang for buck on their lower priced budget bikes but there are still treasures to be found on the pre-owned market... and even stolen ones for that matter.

Once everything gets back to normal and issues with supply have been delt with. it will be business as usual. People will be able to buy the bikes that they want and people who found a love of cycling during lockdown will probably purchase a bike rather than a rental while the network of rental bikes will continue to see people renting to scoot around town either for short trips from A to B around the city or from tourists who fancy cycling around the city -- Having worked mainly in central london, I have seen a lot of people from both parties renting out boris bikes.

Bike rental will go up but a lot more people will also own their own bikes.

I head a podcast from one of the largest uk bike rental companies. When pressed about how many subscriptions they had, they admitted that it was counted in hundreds, not thousands, so it is probably not happening anytime soon.

I'm unconvinced of some of the conclusions here.  It seems to have completely missed the ongoing city rents crash and increasingly flexible working hours.   Renting bikes may be a growth sector but I don't think it's for some of the causes listed here.

as usual the 'end of' is no longer enough and the 'death of' has become the attention grabbing title...as we know from history both are wrong. its more about new approaches that lead to a fracturing of old models....subscription works for some, rental for others and purchasing still for the majority. As a car club/zipcar user for over 15 years I have no need to purchase a car, but i do own an expensive bike that is my main form of transport and leisure. I own vinyl, cd's adn mp3's  but have stopped using itunes in favour of a spotify subscription. I've never ridden a boris bike though...

Isn't it illegal to publish paid puff pieces without declaring that it's promotional content?